Treatment of textile fabrics



Sept. 8, 1936. H.'PLATT TREATMENT OF TEXTILE FABRICS Filed Feb. 15, 1954INVENTOR HERBERT PLATT Y ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 8, 1936 PATENT OFFICETREATMENT or TEXTILE FABRICS Herbert Platt, Cumberland, Md., assignor toCelanese Corporation of America, a corporation of Delaware ApplicationFebruary 15, 1934, Serial No. 711,396

4 Claims.

This invention relates to the delustering and surface treatment oftextile fabrics formed of artificial yarns or filaments, especiallythose containing organic esters of cellulose.

An object of the invention is the economic and expeditious productionand preparation of textile fabrics, one or both sides of which are of asoft delustered appearance or on which there are delustered patterns.Other objects of the invention will appear from the following detaileddescription.

In the drawing: a

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a device for carrying out the inventionwherein the abrading surface is moved with respect to the fabric beingtreated.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a device for carrying out the inventionwherein the abrading surface is held stationary.

Fabrics formed of artificial filaments that have not been given specialand often times expensive chemical treatments may be glossy or shiny inappearance and slick in hand. For certain purposes these properties arenot desired. By marring the surface of the exposed filaments the lightreflecting surface is broken up and the shine destroyed as well as animproved soft hand imparted to the fabric. Moreover by treating a fabricof artificial filaments that has been dyed black or other dark shade, itis possible to obtain fabric of subdued lustre and dark color-an effectheretofore not obtainable. It is essential however to be able to controlthe marring action such that if desired the exposed surface of thefilaments are merely scratched and not so drastically that filaments aresevered or materially weakened. For forming a nap on thefabric a coarseabrasive and other means may be employed to sever a part of thefilaments.

According to this invention I deluster a part or the whole of a surfaceof a textile fabric by puting fine scratches across and/orlongitudinally of the exposed surface of the filaments and yarns. Thismay be accomplished by an abrasive such as fine sand paper, emery paper,stone and other similar abrasives. According to this invention I havedesigned two modes of devices for accomplishing, by mechanical means,the even or desired type of abrasion. I

The material to be treated may be a textile fabric woven or knitted fromyarns or filaments or sheets or films of a continuous nature. The yarnsor filaments that are used to form the fabrics may be formed by any ofthe methods of forming artificial filaments and may comprise artificialsilk,

reconstituted cellulose (formed by either the euprammonium or viscosemethod), or organic derivatives of cellulose. The organic derivatives ofcellulose that lend themselves to such processing are the organic estersand ethers of cellulose or organic ether-esters of cellulose. Examplesof organic esters of cellulose are cellulose acetate, cellulose formate,cellulose propionate and cellulose butyrate, while examples of organicethers of cellulose are ethyl cellulose, methyl cellulose and benzylcellulose.

The fabrics may be composed of a single type and composition filament orof mixtures of various types of filaments. The fabrics may be treatedwhile dry or they may be treated while slightly damp or completely wet.When damp or wet fabrics are employed, there is no tendency ofthermoplastic materials, which may be present in certain types offilaments,to glaze due to the heat created through friction.

In Fig. 1 of the drawings is shown one form of a device for carrying outthe invention where H) is a suitable frame having mounted thereinsuitable guide rollers II and a large roller I2 or a plurality of same.The large rollers may be formed of stone or they may be coated with asuitable abrasive material l3; They are journaled in suitable bearingsin the frame l0 and are adapted to be power driven by any suitable means(not shown) as by a chain operating on sprocket wheels on the ends oftheir supporting shafts. Provisions are provided on the frame I!) forsupporting a roll of fabric it that may be equipped with a suitablebrake to apply tension to the unwinding material. Also mounted on theframe In is a take-up roll I6 adapted to be rotated by belt I! workingupon a pulley connected to the shaft l8 supporting the roll l6.

In operation, a roll of fabric I4 is placed on the frame It! and thefabric threaded over the guide rolls II and under the abrading rolls l2to the take-up roll ii that is driven at substantially uniform speed. Bya brake mechanism the roll It is caused to exert a drag on the fabricholding it under tension and preventing sagging. The rolls I! are causedto rotate usually at a high rate of speed and in a direction opposite tothe travel of the fabric. The rolls It may be of a fine grain All stoneor steel or wood rolls covered by an abrasive vention wherein 2| is asuitable frame having mounted thereon a driven roll 22, guide rolls 23,a take-up roll 24 and a feed roll 25. The takeup roll 24 may be suitablydriven for example by power from the roll 22 which is positively drivenby belt 26. The feed roll 25 may be equipped with a suitable brake suchthat the fabric 21 will be held taut while passing under the shoe 28.The shoe 28 is connected and pivoted to the frame by means of the arm 29pivotally mounted both to the frame and to the shoe. For the purpose ofbalancing and adjusting, the pressure of the shoe upon the fabric, theshoe is equipped on each side with pivoted arms 3| adapted to receiveweights 32.

In place of the feed-roll and take-up roll a continuous band of fabricmay be formed such that the material is continuously rerun under theshoe 28. This shoe may be formed of a cut or molded abrasive material ora metal or wooden form that is surfaced with an abrasive material 33such as sandpaper, emery cloth or abrasive containing plastics. Theentire fabric contacting surface of the shoe may act as an abrasive orthe abrasive may be formed in stripes upon the shoe thus forming stripesupon the fabric.

By varying the particle size of the abrasive material and/or thepressure of the abrasive surface, upon the fabric being treated, thedegree and type of deluster imparted to the material may be controlled.By suitably placing the abrasive material on the abrading device a fullsurface or striped deluster may be imparted to the fabric.

By forming the rolls l2 or shoe 28 of an engraved hardened steel orother suitable metal the fabric may be delustered without taking onparticles of abrasive material. The rolls I2 may also consist of brushesof metallic fibres. Alternatively the rolls I2 may have smoothperipheries to which may be applied loose finely divided abrasive, suchas emery, silica and the like.

It is to be understood that the foregoing detailed description is givenmerely by way of illustration and that many variations may be madetherein, without departing from the spirit of my invention. 7

Having described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patentis:

L'In apparatus for reducing the lustre of fabric containing artificialfilaments, the combination of means for feeding a web of fabric, saidmeans being spaced apart so that the fabric is unsupported over adistance, and an abrasive device adapted to rest on and be supported bythe said fabric at a point where the fabric is unsupported, theconstruction and arrangement being such that the relative movementbetween the fabric andthe abrasive device causes roughening of thesurface of the fabric thus reducing the lustre thereof.

2. In apparatus for reducing the lustre of fabric containing artificialfilaments, the combination of means for feeding a web of fabric, saidmeans being spaced apart so that the fabric is unsupported over adistance, and an abrasive device mounted for free movement about apivot, said device being adapted to rest on and be supported by the saidfabric at a point where the fabric is unsupported, the construction andarrangement being such that the relative movement between the fabric andthe abrasive device causes roughening of the surface of the fabric thusreducing the lustre thereof.

3. In apparatus for reducing the lustre of fabric containing artificialfilaments, the combination of means for feeding a web of fabric, saidmeans being spaced apart so that the fabric is unsupported over adistance, an abrasive device adapted roughening of the surface of thefabric thus reducing the lustre thereof.

4. In apparatus for reducing the lustre of fabric containing artificialfilaments, the combination of means for feeding a web of fabric, saidmeans being spaced apart so that the fabric is unsupported over adistance, an abrasive device fixed with respect to horizontal movementand adapted to rest on and be supported by the said fabric at a pointwhere the fabric is unsupported, the construction and arrangement beingsuch that the movement of the web of fabric past the abrasive devicecauses roughening of the surface of the fabric thus reducing the lustrethere- HERBERT PLA'IT.

